Second race of the season and I decided to use Christian’s old bike for a bit more snap in acceleration than my Domane. It’s nearly 20 years old at this point but still handles great and brought back great memories of our rides together. Christian got me into longer bike rides back in the early 2000’s after I started getting back in shape following Ashley’s birth. At the time I’d ridden all my life but never further than 10 miles and always in street clothes. Over the course of a couple years of progressively longer rides on the Burke Gilman, some epic bonks and riding STP together I was converted into the world of full Lycra, clip in shoes and gel blocks.
This was a high end bike once upon a time but times have changed and now it was the only rim brake, manual shifting bike in the race.
Our field was combined with the 60+ field for this race and we had about 25 people total in the field. Apex had 4 people in the 50+ field and we had established our plan ahead of time. Frank and Brian were to launch an attack on the second bump on the course, form a break and ride off to victory while Harrison and I shut down any bridge attempts and controlled the peloton. It’s rare that a plan actually survives contact with the “enemy” but this time the break went exactly as planned.
Frank and Brian attacked and formed a strong breakaway with 3 other riders at the spot on the first lap that we had planned and vanished up the road. They kept putting time into the group as we continued our remaining 3 1/2 laps and by the end had over 6 minutes on the field. Harrison and I had fun covering any move from the peloton and it was good motivation to stay near the front, one of us was always in the front 4 wheels or so and often right on the wheel of anyone launching an attack.
The breakaway (with special appearance from bell ringer extraordinaire, Susan)
The peloton with myself and Harrison marking wheels
I felt pretty good throughout the race and the only tough attack to shutdown came on the third lap when the field fragmented a bit after the downhill coming back into the woods. I was in good position, 4th wheel for most of the last 6 miles but then after the downhill coming into 1k to go my shifter acted up and I couldn’t get into the right gear quickly enough to keep my position and played catch up for the rest of the finish. Ended up 5th in the field sprint (9th overall) as Harrison and I rolled over for a pack finish.
Frank and Brian came 3rd and 4th respectively and were a bit disappointed that they hadn’t handled the end of the break better, particularly with numbers that would allow them to try alternating attacks. Still a good result for the team nonetheless and good learning experiences all around.
Field sprint
Then it was back to the cars for some beer and a chance to hang out in the sun (not a guarantee at Mason Lake in March). There’ll be another chance on the same course next week so we’ll be back.
